Immigration

More than 300 rural leaders from across the United States met in St. Paul, Minn., June 28-30 for the 2011 Gathering of the National Rural Assembly.

"As we move forward, we’ve got to think about how this story turns out. We need to engage with each other and find that purpose – find that purpose and keep going.

The Minnesota host committee of the 2011 Gathering of the National Rural Assembly honored "rural champions" at the evening program on Wednesday, June 29.

Rural champion awards were given to nine state leaders who have worked on behalf of rural people and their issues.

Recipients were:

• Jane Freeman
• Bob Bergland
• Anne Kanten
• Al Quie
• Rod Leonard
• Cy Carpenter
• Lou Ann Kling
• Jim Nichols
• Sr. Mary Mark Tacheny

Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie addressed the Assembly after the presentations, calling on participants to use their love of place to inspire them to act on behalf of rural communities.

By Ada Smith

Just in time for our morning breakout sessions we were greeted with a panel demanding that we raise the bar for how we continue the rest of the day.

They called us to recognize that..

Rural youth of color matter.

The face of rural America is changing. People of color, 18 and under, now make up over 26% of our population. As we see immigrants joining our rural communities, we must be willing to act on legislation that will support their future successes such as the DREAM Act which would provide access to higher education for 800,000 students Bringing youth of color to the table in a robust and meaningful ways in our organizations and institutions is the only way to ensure a vibrant rural future.

Navy Captain Wayne Porter and Marine Colonel Mark Mykleby were asked to write a new national security plan for the U.S.

2011 Rural Assembly - Day Two - Images by Rural Archive

by Ada Smith

The 2011 National Rural Assembly is upon us! Here we are at a family reunion. This is the moment for us to challenge one another and spend a moment re-thinking, re-strategizing, and re-imagining our vision for the next decade. It is time for us to actualize what it means to build an inclusive nation.

We understand intrinsically that an inclusive nation recognizes not only citizens but also those residents of our communities that may not be ackowledged by a slow moving federal government. We understand that ‘the values we learned at our kitchen tables’ are the same ones that allow us to take place-based action, to eat local food from Minnesota while we’re here. We understand that if Latino populations are facing a 21% high school dropout rate, Native American reservations’ second leading cause of death is suicide, and rural youth are 30% more likely to live in poverty that that is a national problem not a rural one. We understand that we have been losing ground fast and now is the time for opportunity.

So where are these openings?